The Suicide Squad - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Suicide Squad



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
After the dive bomb that was the abomination known as the 2016 Suicide Squad, I was NOT expecting them to make a re-showing any time soon. Well, I guess DC wants to continue this train down the tracks and they’ve done it by introducing some new directing blood in the form of Guardian’s of the Galaxy’s James Gunn, and turning it into an R-rated bloodbath in the vein of Deadpool. The trailers didn’t do the film that much justice, and when I saw the film on HBO Max I was really let down. It was so bizarre and off the rails that I couldn’t really see it as any better than the 2016 film with Will Smith. Sure, Margot Robbie was solid in it as usual with her Harley Quinn thing, but it was INSANE. After watching it on the Blu-ray and the 4K UHD I started to really get into it. It’s not the best super hero film ever, but this is written and directed by the same man who did Tromeo and Juliet, and he just REVELS in the chance to make this an insane bloodbath of goofy proportions.

Not exactly a sequel, not exactly a reboot according to the executive producer in the special features, The Suicide Squad (yes, it’s differentiated by it’s predecessor by the word “The”) brings us back to Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and her psychotic machinations using imprisoned superheros as her suicide weapons. This time she’s got her team going to Corta Maltese to check out an insurrection, only for half the squad to get wiped out, leaving only Harley Quinn (Robbie), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Ratcatcher 2, King Shark (Sylvester Stallone voicing) and Polka-dot Man (David Dastmalchian) to carry out the mission.

However, things go awry really quickly when they realize that they aren’t hear to just blow up a building and leave. It turns out that they’re hear to wipe up the U.S. governments mess in illegally experimenting on a gigantic space star-fish (yeahhhhhhhhhhh, it’s as bizarre as it sounds), and now they have to try and save an entire city before said super duper evil starfish gets out of control and wipes out all of Corta Maltese.

Ok, The Suicide Squad takes the off beat craziness of Will Smith voicing Deadshot and mixing it with some of the humor of Guardian’s of the Galaxy, and topping it with gore and insanity ala Tromeo and Juliet. The villains are crazy, the heroes are crazier, and the end “villain” is just so bonkers that those of you who have read the original The Watchmen comics will even raise an eyebrow. Sometimes the humor is just too much though. The constant one liners and Margot Robbie fawning gets a bit old. However, the final half of the film is a lot better once the Suicide Squad finally gets to the gigantic bunker. The action is off the hook, and the Peacemaker and Bloodsport really shine. I was honestly expecting to HATE Peacemaker from the trailer (A man so obsessed with peace that he’ll kill every man woman and child who threatens peace), but his banter with Bloodsport was pretty stinking epic. Supposedly he was so popular that the decision to have Cena star in a spinoff TV show about Peacemaker was greenlit (check out the after credits clip for that teaser).




Rated R for strong violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual references, drug use and brief graphic nudity




Video:

Much like the 4K UHD, the “dumbed down” Blu-ray looks fantastic in 1080p. Shot using 6K and 8K sourced cameras and dumped to a 4K native master, the Blu-ray just sparkles all around with colors and clarity. The film is awash with a deep blue and golden color grading, and the reds and blues and greens of the film just pop off the screen (such as Harley’s red dress). Blacks are deep and inky, although I did notice some banding and the same digital noise that I saw on the 4K UHD disc. It’s a great disc though, and outside of those minor flaws is top not h across the board.







Audio:

As with most Warner titles, The Suicide Squad shares the same Dolby Atmos track on the Blu-ray and 4K UHD, so fans will get that goodness no matter which version of the film they buy. And for those wondering, this is an absolutely BEAST of a track. The gunfire, the screams, the crashing of gigantic starfish legs all just literally pound the listener with the ferocity of a lion. The bass is unreal here, adding weight to gunshots, buildings falling down, and basically every time our evil Starfish steps anywhere. Surrounds are wildly active and very boisterous all around, putting the listener right into the heart of things. There’s some really neat overhead effects near the end that almost feel like things are dropping down on you, and dialog is never once a problem. EXCELLENT demo track.





Extras:

• Gag Reel
• Gotta Love the Squad
• The Way of The Gunn
• It's a Suicide Mission Scene Breakdown
• My Guns Bigger Than Yours Scene Breakdown
• Harley's Great Escape Scene Breakdown
• The Fall of Jotunheim Scene Breakdown
• Starro: It's a Freakin Kaiju!
• Bringing King Shark To Life
• War Movie Retro Trailer
• Horror Movie Retro Trailer
• Buddy-Cop Retro Trailer
• Directors Commentary by Director/Writer James Gunn
• Deleted & Extended Scenes

Final Score:
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All in all, The Suicide Squad is a crazy super “hero” movie that has a lot of things going for it, and also some baggage as well. Many things really work, but other aspects of the movie don’t always strike gold. But at the end of the day it’s a pretty fun action movie with James Gunn’s trademark wit and goofiness (and of course he has his brother show up as he always does as The Weasel). The Blu-ray is off the charts good in terms of specs, including some hefty features, making this a great package to grab if you like what you see.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Flula Borg, Sean Gunn
Directed by: James Gunn
Written by: James Gunn
Aspect Ratio: 1.90:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Italian SDH, Portuguese, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: R
Runtime: 132 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 26th, 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will watch this only to give my sound system a workout.

 

[Bright Side HT]

Dead on with your review! Can't wait to watch this again and go over it with a fine tooth comb... lots of great demo material in this one to push any system!